Sunday, May 09, 1999
REDS NOTEBOOK
Home run hat trick ends bullpen's run
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Reds bullpen's scoreless streak ended with a bang Saturday — three of them in fact.
Chicago's Jose Hernandez hit a solo home run off Gabe White in the seventh inning to end the scoreless streak at 18ö innings. One out after Hernandez's shot, Sammy Sosa and Benito Santiago went back to back.
The home runs were key in the Cubs' 7-4 win over the Reds. They also ballooned White's ERA to 5.51.
“We've got to get him straightened out,” Reds manager Jack McKeon said.
White had not pitched since Tuesday.
“I wasn't as sharp as I wanted to be,” he said. “Everything I threw was either way up or way down.”
All three pitches that were hit out were low fastballs.
“I can't dwell on it,” White said.
The bullpen ranked second in the National League with a 3.17 ERA before Saturday.
No Dmitri
McKeon would have liked to get Dmitri Young in the lineup, but he's not going to break up a good thing.
“I'm superstitious enough that, if we're winning, I'm not going to change it,” McKeon said.
So Michael Tucker, who is hitting only .197 as a starter, was in right field again Saturday. Tucker went 1-for-3.
“I'd like to get (Young) in there,” McKeon said. “I'll do it one of these days. I think the layoff will do him good.”
Young pinch hit Friday night and Saturday. It was his first action since April 30 when he bruised his ribs in Atlanta.
McKeon also would like to get a start for Hal Morris, but to do it, he'd have to bench Sean Casey.
“How do you take out a guy who's hitting .360?” McKeon said.
Casey, by the way, isn't hitting .360 anymore. He went 3-for-3 Saturday to push his average to .382.
Long distance
Sosa's shot landed five rows up in the left-field red seats, an estimated 453 feet from home plate.
It was the 26th red-seat shot in stadium history and the first this year.
Vaughn's HR
Greg Vaughn hit his fifth homer of the season in the eighth inning. Not surprisingly, it didn't come off starter Jon Lieber but reliever Terry Mulholland.
Vaughn went 0-for-3 against Lieber and is 1-for-21 in his career against Lieber.
Marathon team
Reds Managing Executive John Allen and his wife, Anna, will run in the Flying Pig Marathon as part of a corporate relay team. Brad Blattner and Chris Herrell of the Reds' group sales staff will also runs legs of the relay.
Allen will run the first leg, which is 6.2 miles.
Allen has run three full marathons. He ran his last in Cleveland in 1995, just before he joined the Reds.
No Tomko timetable
Brett Tomko will make his second start for the Indianapolis Indians today.
“There's no set timetable (for his return to the Reds),” General Manager Jim Bowden said. “We want him to get back to pitching effectively. But for us to win the division, Brett has to win 12 to 15 games for us. So we hope he's not down there too long.”
Larkin's hot
Barry Larkin is hitting .444 (8-for-18) with a home run and six RBI in the five games of the homestand, and he has driven in the winning runs in the last four games.
So is his stroke back after that horrible April?
“I'm hitting .223,” Larkin said before Saturday's game. “When I'm hitting .330, my stroke will be back.”
Larkin appears to be following the pattern from last season when he hit .188 in April and .330 in May.
Larkin was in the lineup Saturday despite some lingering affects of getting hit on the helmet by a ball thrown by Chicago shortstop Jose Hernandez on Friday night.
“My ears are still ringing,” he said.
Up next
The Reds will start RHP Jason Bere (2-0, 6.39) against RHP Scott Sanders (0-3, 4.55) at 1:15 p.m. today in the series finale with the Cubs.
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